The beautiful McGregor campus in Cleveland, with its walking trails, gardens and wide expanses of lawn, has recently expanded to include 13 additional acres and a new PACE center. McGregor’s PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) provides primary care, nursing, day health center meals, physical therapy, occupational therapy, social work, group activities and more.
The present 45-acre campus is the result of an adjacent property acquisition to the south and east, which had belonged to the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities. A former school and administrative office building built in the 1980s on the property will now house the McGregor PACE operation formerly located at the Langston Hughes Community Health and Education Center on East 79th Street in Cleveland’s Fairfax neighborhood. (Additional PACE Centers are located in Warrensville Heights and the Old Brooklyn neighborhood of Cleveland.)
McGregor President and CEO Rob Hilton says the move makes sense for several reasons. The population of PACE-eligible older adults is migrating from the central part of the county to the more northeast quadrant, he says. The new location of this PACE center, opening in September, will be closer to the concentration of the seniors it serves.
“Another reason why that is important is that we pick up PACE participants in their homes and drive them to and from the center. There is a time limit for the amount of time they can spend on the bus,” explains Hilton.
In addition, the McGregor Assisted Living community, featuring 90 assisted-living suites, will open this fall on campus. The three-story, $12 million building is designed to serve the growing population of aging people. Half of the suites will be earmarked for affordable assisted-living units for those who qualify, and half will be market rate suites. Hilton has been quoted saying that “central to McGregor’s mission is the commitment to support programs that allow older adults to age in place, wherever they call ‘home.’”
“The new PACE building is a more optimal location for those we serve and those we will serve in the assisted-living community,” says Hilton, adding that PACE staff from the Langston Hughes location will also make the transfer.
Half of the 45,000-square-foot former school will be remodeled for PACE needs, and the second half of the space is “already beautifully set up as administration offices” that will be utilized by McGregor, says Hilton.
“We were renting space before, and this move will allow us to serve more efficiently. It was a good solution for the county as well,” says COO Ann Conn. “The majority of the first floor will be renovated. Because of the building’s structure, we didn’t have to worry about load-bearing walls so we could renovate according to what we needed.”
Conn says space will be reserved for physical, occupational and speech therapies that are available to the 250 to 300 participants who will use the services.
“Finding this space that allowed us to design for purpose made all the difference in how we can service,” says Conn. “It was meant to be.”